Dejana

Kim Basinger to join 'Fifty Shades Darker'. She's playing Elena, the woman who "introduced" Christian to BDSM at 15.

January 29–31, 2016 Estimates: 1 (N) Kung Fu Panda 3 $41,000,000 | 3,955 Theaters | $10,367 Avg. | $41,000,000 2 (1) The Revenant $12,400,000 | 3,330 Theaters | $3,724 Avg. | $138,171,368 3 (2) Star Wars: The Force Awakens $10,782,000 | 2,556 Theaters | $4,218 Avg. | $895,426,162 4 (N) The Finest Hours $10,327,000 | 3,143 Theaters | $3,286 Avg. | $10,327,000 5 (3) Ride Along 2 $8,345,520 | 2,412 Theaters | $3,460 Avg. | $70,775,210 6 (4) Dirty Grandpa $7,591,049 | 2,912 Theaters | $2,607 Avg. | $22,837,059 7 (5) The Boy $7,551,388 | 2,671 Theaters | $2,827 Avg. | $21,185,304 8 (6) The 5th Wave $7,000,000 | 2,908 Theaters | $2,407 Avg. | $20,188,149 9 (7) 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi $6,274,244 | 2,803 Theaters | $2,238 Avg. | $42,848,089 10 (N) Fifty Shades of Black $5,900,528 | 2,075 Theaters | $2,844 Avg. | $5,900,528 Jane Got a Gun $835,572 | 1,210 Theaters | $691 Avg. | $835,572 Best Picture Watch: The Martian $227,936,706 Mad Max: Fury Road $153,636,354 The Revenant $138,171,368 Bridge of Spies $71,683,103 The Big Short $60,900,477 Spotlight $34,686,107 Brooklyn $30,386,171 Room $9,882,725 Total Gross: $727,283,011 Average Gross: $90,910,376 Other Contenders: The Hateful Eight $668,000 | 505 Theaters | $1,323 Avg. | $52,316,982 Joy $550,000 | 447 Theaters | $1,230 Avg. | $55,343,624 45 Years $472,256 | 94 Theaters | $5,024 Avg. | $1,258,744 Carol $425,000 | 313 Theaters | $1,358 Avg. | $11,392,245 The Danish Girl $242,000 | 224 Theaters | $1,080 Avg. | $10,315,404 Trumbo $66,472 | 78 Theaters | $852 Avg. | $7,623,344 Global Totals: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: $1.0878B Overseas Total | $1.9832B Global Total THE REVENANT: $136.6M Overseas Total | $274.8M Global Total DADDY'S HOME: $67.6M Overseas Total | $210.6M Global Total CREED: $51.7M Overseas Total | $160.4M Global Total ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP: $69.5M Overseas Total | $152.7M Global Total GOOSEBUMPS: $54.7M Overseas Total | $135.8M Global Total KUNG FU PANDA 3: $75.7M Overseas Total | $116.7M Global Total POINT BREAK: $87.9M Overseas Total | $116.2M Global Total THE BIG SHORT: $41.8M Overseas Total | $102.7M Global Total SISTERS: $15.1M Overseas Total | $101.2M Global Total

Book 2 starts in the late 1960s, 20 years after Claire returned to the 1940s, from the 1700s. Brianna mostly appears at the beginning and end, with the bulk of it being about Claire and Jamie in the 1740s. It seems the second season will begin differently than the book, not giving it away so soon that the story shows Claire in her fifties. TV Bree possibly having a hybrid accent would make a lot of sense, even if it diverges from the books (much like Frank/Claire having a register office wedding in England rather than going to a church in the Scottish Highlands). The height issue was always going to be tricky, because what were the odds they'd find an actress who was the right age, had the right looks, could act, was available AND towered over Cait, who's already taller than Book Claire? Something was probably always going to have to give, be it hair color or nationality or height: IMO, better that she can act than look right, but not much else. In books, you only have to describe how Bree towers over all the other women of the story, and most men, but casting it in practice was always going to be much more difficult. Height was a major thing with Bree in the books, but there's more to the character than that.

The BAFTA Rising Star award is fan voted, and her more critically-acclaimed efforts are little seen, compared to her blockbuster fare. The critics were raving about Kristen back during the Into the Wild days. They rhapsodize about her naturalistic style in the indie flicks she's made, but it hasn't been enough to overcome the broader public's impression that the sum of her acting skills amounts to fingers through the hair, lip-biting twitchy awkwardness.

Yes, that's what I meant by "interesting". That storyline definitely caught my attention...not in a good way, though it gave some context to part at the wedding reception where Sonny's wife is laughing with the other women, demonstrating with her hands.

It's been a while since I read the book, which I didn't think was as good as the movie, but it illuminated certain scenes. Who knew that bridesmaid from Sonny's tryst at the wedding reception had such an interesting backstory?

Why is Annalise holding a baby, and whose is it?

The first World War Z made over $200 million and $540 million in total worldwide, so it was somewhat more successful than either Divergent film so far. WWZ overcame a troubled production to be a big hit so the same could happen again, or it may not. As for Ascendant, summer could be good for a movie geared to the YA audience, but I'm not sure going 15 months between installments is the best thing for this franchise's momentum. Unless they are changing the ending and want to spend extra time to win back the fanbase?

Big drops and soft openings all around. Things should rebound next weekend between the weather clearing and the lack of NFL. January 22–24, 2016 Estimates: 1 (2) The Revenant $16,000,000 | 3,711 Theaters | $4,312 Avg. | $119,192,522 2 (3) Star Wars: The Force Awakens $14,257,000 | 3,365 Theaters | $4,237 Avg. | $879,289,346 3 (1) Ride Along 2 $12,959,520 | 3,192 Theaters | $4,060 Avg. | $59,109,560 4 (N) Dirty Grandpa $11,525,000 | 2,912 Theaters | $3,958 Avg. | $11,525,000 5 (N) The Boy $11,260,000 | 2,671 Theaters | $4,216 Avg. | $11,260,000 6 (N) The 5th Wave $10,700,000 | 2,908 Theaters | $3,680 Avg. | $10,700,000 7 (4) 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi $9,750,000 | 2,917 Theaters | $3,342 Avg. | $33,483,429 8 (5) Daddy’s Home $5,270,000 | 2,789 Theaters | $1,890 Avg. | $138,780,265 9 (6) Norm of the North $4,100,000 | 2,411 Theaters | $1,701 Avg. | $14,296,203 10 (8) The Big Short $3,500,000 | 1,351 Theaters | $2,591 Avg. | $56,713,841 Best Picture Watch: The Martian $227,625,414 Mad Max: Fury Road $153,636,354 The Revenant $119,192,522 Bridge of Spies $71,517,000 The Big Short $56,713,841 Spotlight $33,006,762 Brooklyn $27,539,321 Room $7,953,680 Other Contenders: Joy $1,160,000 | 966 Theaters | $1,201 Avg. | $54,219,638 Carol $639,000 | 692 Theaters | $923 Avg. | $10,574,031 The Danish Girl $531,000 | 794 Theaters | $669 Avg. | $9,724,377 Creed $485,000 | 558 Theaters | $869 Avg. | $108,294,759 45 Years $219,794 | 40 Theaters | $5,495 Avg. | $740,203 Trumbo $88,091 | 136 Theaters | $648 Avg. | $7,482,599

Right now, HGTV is showing some Fixer Upper knockoff called Home Town. The couple's in Laurel, Mississippi instead of Waco, TX, but the beats are all the same, from the search of old homes to restore, the picturesque shots of the small town, to the goofy husband, and the wife raiding a warehouse for the perfect vintage pieces. The wife shows her updated interior designs on a sketch pad and they're in color, her "thing" seems to be mirrors, and there aren't any "kiddos", but the tweaks are very minor. Sunday at noon seems an odd time slot for new programming, so I guess this is just a tryout? I don't think Chip and Joanna have to fret about the competition just yet.

Directors don't have to be nice people. In life, it's generally a good thing, but in terms of being highly regarded as an artist, it doesn't matter so much in that field. The egotism and tyrannical ways are probably seen as part of an auteur's uncompromising creative genius. I should say that goes for male directors who aren't black. I doubt that the studios and awards voters would be so forgiving if Ava DuVernay ever behaved half as badly.

IDK.... the Academy loves Hollywood and the Coens, but a February release date is so early for a potential nominee. Hail, Caesar! doesn't have a busted Oscar bait history: you know, first scheduled to come out in time to make the critics' lists, then the poor test screening reports leak, so the movie gets shuffled to Jan/Feb or worse, late August/Labor Day weekend. It's opening the Berlin Film Festival so maybe it's not a turkey but the timing allows it to be a well-regarded comedy rather than something that's not quite [whatever] enough for the Oscars.

Interesting to see the responses from the tennis world about the match-fixing stories. The ATP chairman was both stunned and super defensive, while the ESPN commentators basically said, "...well, we've all heard rumors and it would be easy to pull off in the lower levels of the game," and Djokovic says his team was approached with a $200,000 offer 8-9 years ago. In other news, Andy Murray's wife is due next month and he says he'll leave immediately if Kim goes into labor during the tournament. She's back in the UK, so that would be a pretty long flight and he says he doesn't have a private jet on standby, so it would take him more than 24 hours to get back home.

Statement from Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs:

I've had the impression that there has long been a vague awareness about it not being good for women to consume too much alcohol during pregnancy, though what constituted "too much" in the past would differ from current ideas, and that it varied among cultures and eras. In Gone with the Wind (written in the mid-1930s), there's a character who secretly drank a lot during a particular pregnancy, and the way the child is described physically and intellectually would fit with what would now be viewed as a fetal alcohol disorder, though it could be a coincidence. I don't think I noticed how much Claire drank when I read the early books.

Kaepernick was flashy and respected for keeping it real while Russell Wilson's teammates allegedly questioned his blackness, though other Seahawks immediately came forward to deny it. It was the sort of story a host/columnist/blogger could put out there almost entirely based on their public personas. Russell was all Earnest Jesus-y Boy Scout with a white wife (at the time) so of course he couldn't possibly relate to Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch: so stupid. RG3 got the same sort of flack for being a "cornball brother".

I was wondering about that, too, but I guess Florence Not-tingale was that much of a pill and the other nurses weren't right for the job, either. It's a TV show, so there will be some contrivances. I took the statements about emancipation as the sort of editorializing in which people engage, based on a mix of personal beliefs, knowledge of current events, and a general sense of the way the wind is blowing, so to speak. Throughout history, people have always privately declared this or that element of political/social change to be "inevitable", sometimes before the law has caught up. Isn't the Mercy Street Hospital in Union-occupied Alexandria? D.C. emancipation law probably wouldn't apply.

It does look like The Revenant will make back its budget (though there are whispers it's even higher than the reported $135m), and Hardy got his first Oscar nomination out of it, so that will take away some of the sting. OTOH, Iñárritu's ego and exceseive ways might only increase, so good luck to his next cast.

I didn't find Mary to be close to flawless at all. Besides only wanting to treat the good guys, it's like she didn't think through the whole "working in a war hospital" plan, considering her squeamishness about blood. To see a wheelbarrow of severed limbs, well, I doubt there's any preparation for that, but it felt like she recoiled from things you'd have expected a nurse to have experienced before. I also wasn't impressed with her correcting people that she was a baroness...really not the time, you know? The Greens are in an obviously untenable situation...not terribly sympathetic but I wonder when they'll give up the ghost and when the son will finagle a way to join the army.

Unbreak My Heart:

Smith was at the peak of his movie stardom in 2006 and when the Oscar nominations were announced that year, The Pursuit of Happyness had already made $146 million (on the way to $163M domestic). If Concussion had made even half that much instead of just $33 million so far, I think Smith probably would've gotten in. The reviews are roughly on par (67% RT for Happyness vs. 63% for Concussion) but Concussion turned out not to be so daring or controversial and Happyness probably did more to pull at the heartstrings. Your average Academy voter probably felt good at the end of watching it and easily checked the ballot for that performance. Now, it's true that of the five Best Actor nominees, three are from movies that have made even less than Concussion so far. Steve Jobs, while being a commercial failure, has much better reviews (85% RT) and its director is an Oscar winner, which never hurts in getting subsequent movies on the awards radar. Ditto with The Danish Girl, also centered by a "brave" performance from last year's Best Actor in a "groundbreaking" movie. Trumbo has Walter White as a celebrated screenwriter fighting the blacklist for his creative life and legacy. They love movies about the film industry and Old Hollywood, to pat themselves on the back. Football may be America's Game, but it's not one of those areas that Oscar goes for unless it's already a big hit. Movies about boxing, OTOH, have a much better history with AMPAS. I guess it's more visceral and cinematic? Michael B. Jordan won at least one critics' prize but never seemed to move beyond a long-shot contender for Best Actor. He is under 30 and Creed is technically a franchise movie; they don't have a great history with lead acting nominations. I think if WB had realized what they had in terms of critical/financial success, they would've dropped the Johnny Depp/Black Mass dream a lot sooner and given Creed/MJB/Coogler a much bigger push for a longer time, and it might have made the difference.

I think there's an audience for the story but Bayghazi probably could have used more star power to approach the success of Lone Survivor or American Sniper.

January 15–17, 2016 Estimates: 1 (N) Ride Along 2 $34,040,000 | 3,175 Theaters | $10,721 Avg. | $34,040,000 2 (2) The Revenant $29,500,000 | 3,559 Theaters | $8,289 Avg. | $87,674,769 3 (1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens $25,120,000 | 3,822 Theaters | $6,572 Avg. | $851,052,841 4 (N) 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi $16,000,000 | 2,389 Theaters | $6,697 Avg. | $16,000,000 5 (3) Daddy's Home $9,300,000 | 3,322 Theaters | $2,800 Avg. | $129,256,102 6 (N) Norm of the North $6,675,000 | 2,411 Theaters | $2,769 Avg. | $6,675,000 7 (4) The Forest $5,792,000 | 2,509 Theaters | $2,308 Avg. | $21,125,634 8 (7) The Big Short $5,200,000 | 1,765 Theaters | $2,946 Avg. | $50,520,882 9 (5) Sisters $4,420,000 | 2,313 Theaters | $1,911 Avg. | $81,853,630 10 (6) The Hateful Eight $3,447,000 | 2,385 Theaters | $1,445 Avg. | $47,595,491 Best Picture Watch (includes 1/18 estimates): The Martian $227,089,040 Mad Max: Fury Road $153,636,354 The Revenant $93,174,769 Bridge of Spies $70,833,676 The Big Short $51,570,882 Spotlight $30,870,372 Brooklyn $24,949,613 Room $6,164,867 Other Contenders: Joy $2,675,000 | 1,796 Theaters | $1,489 Avg. | $51,325,268 Carol $1,383,000 | 790 Theaters | $1,751 Avg. | $9,078,854 Creed $1,105,000 | 878 Theaters | $1,259 Avg. | $107,269,603 The Danish Girl $649,000 | 479 Theaters | $1,355 Avg. | $8,693,637 45 Years $100,028 | 14 Theaters | $7,145 Avg. | $474,610 Trumbo $83,278 | 66 Theaters | $1,262 Avg. | $7,349,715 Global Totals: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: $1.0126B Overseas Total | $1.8637B Global Total THE PEANUTS MOVIE: $102.2M Overseas Total | $231.6M Global Total DADDY'S HOME: $50.4M Overseas Total | $181.7M Global Total BRIDGE OF SPIES: $86.6M Overseas Total | $157.4M Global Total THE REVENANT: $58.6M Overseas Total | $146.4M Global Total THE LAST WITCH HUNTER: $105.7M Overseas Total | $133.1M Global Total ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP: $46.0M Overseas Total | $125.6M Global Total SISTERS: $11.5M Overseas Total | $93.0M Global Total RIDE ALONG 2: $2.7M Overseas Total | $36.74M Global Total STEVE JOBS: $11.1M Overseas Total | $28.8M Global Total THE DANISH GIRL: $12.8M Overseas Total | $21.6M Global Total

I don't think Will Smith didn't get nominated because of his kids but because Concussion's reviews weren't great for an Oscar contender and it's a flop. The thing is, sometimes if feels like all the cards have to line up and it has to be an undeniable thing to get the nomination, while projects dominated by actors who are white can get more leeway. Steve Jobs flopped but got two actors in anyway. The reviews for The Danish Girl weren't extraordinary, it's not setting the box office on fire for the sort of film it is, but it got a year of hype as an Oscar movie and was carried by its pedigree. Trumbo is about Hollywood, specifically old Hollywood, which AMPAS loves rewarding. A movie about Old Hollywood is probably going to be dominated by characters who are white, unless it's about suffering minorities who didn't get a fair shake at stardom, but that makes it about racial struggles, which seem to be an Academy-approved topic for "black movies" at the Oscars, along with singer/athlete biopics. I wonder if Oscar punditry has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way, because the "experts" spend months predicting what they think will get nominated and downplaying the chances of what they think AMPAS won't vote for, so maybe it's doing more to steer the conversation back to the status quo. Female narratives aren't seen as "important" enough to win Best Picture unless it's a "woman in a man's world" sort of thing (though I don't think that was always the case), so their chances are reduced to the Actress categories and other secondary technical things like makeup and costumes, maybe screenplay. The prognosticators were lukewarm about the odds for Carol all year long and maybe the Academy would have found it "cold" even if the experts had been predicting a Best Picture win for months. Yet, AMPAS can nominate Birdman or Tree of Life or There Will Be Blood, hardly warm/mainstream movies. Maybe Todd Haynes will have to make a movie about men to get a directing nod, the way Christopher Nolan is making a World War II movie now, after missing that Best Director nomination a couple of times.

The first episode is already up at Mercy Street's pbs.org page!